Friday, September 26, 2008

manuel dominguez, jr. (the boy that i love) and kaitlin mosley (a very excellent person and photographer) are having a show of their photographs this coming first friday at the silicon gallery in old city. i absolutely love both of their work and i am so excited to see them together. if you are in philadelphia, please do not miss this.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

i have been about one-half to three-quarters sick the past two weeks or so, and this morning i woke up entirely sick. terrible cough, headache, sore throat, sore everything-- the whole deal. so i decided to do the old draw-names-from-a-hat style(a small glass fish bowl-ish type object, actually) instead of trying to figure out random.org, because computers often make my head hurt even more than a head cold.

so, the first name that was chosen was...

LAUREN! congratulations- you are officially the winner of the madebyhank rabbit bag!

a few minutes later, i decided to also have two runners-up (runner-ups?), so i pulled two more names out of the bowl, lissilulu and rockstarlibrarian. each of these ladies will receive a madebyhank tough ruffles zipper purse.

(can you both please send me your emails/ shipping addresses? i could not find them on your blogs)

Monday, September 22, 2008

so, i apologize for the delay, but i finally made a little bag for the giveaway.

it is a grey-ish and small-ish and square-sh and tote-ish type bag with a sewn drawing of a handsome rabbit. there are little grey button details and a big exterior slip pocket on the back and bright white piping all around. the lining is a pretty floral print cotton, and there is a little d-ring to clip keys and things onto and two pockets inside to keep little things right where you want them.

so there it is, folks. you have until tomorrow morning at 10am eastern time, when the winner is chosen. so if you have not had the chance to enter yourself to win, do it now!

it has been way too long and oh-so hectic since my last post. chicago was a bit of a disappointment, but had a very happy ending.

we drove and drove (and by "we" i mean "manny") and finally made it to chicago late thursday evening. most of friday morning and afternoon were spent hunting down sand (to weigh everything down) and lollipops (to make the rain slightly more bearable), and adding tags and last minute touches to some of the bags. then i whipped up some cucumber sandwiches (on pumpernickel, of course), and headed over to steven's to the potluck he and meredith put together, because they are absolutely spectacular. there was homemade pizza and homemade caramels and lemon-freaking-verbena soy ice cream (i LOVE lemon everything), among other tasty treats.

on saturday morning when we arrived to set-up, it was POURING rain. we tried to ignore it and make the best of it, but even after the canopy was set up and the walls were attached, rain was leaking inside pretty steadily. after purchasing and attaching all sorts of shower curtains and tarps, and crying a lot of tears and almost giving up several times, we were finally able to open the booth around 4pm (we arrived at 8:30am, and were supposed to be ready by noon). words cannot quite describe how very very wonderful manuel dominguez, jr. (my boyfriend and very most favorite person) was during this slightly terrible ordeal. thank you forever, manny.

photo by steven wade

we had to close up around 7:30 or so, when it got dark, because we were not allowed to have electricity for fear of electrocution. when folks started using their cell phone lights to try and see the fabrics, we had to call it a night.

sunday, however, was a bit more fun. we ate a delicious breakfast of vegan biscuits and gravy at a very great place called the handlebar with meredith and steven. meredith helped me set up shop, while steven and manny searched for a battery operated lantern for the booth.

photo by steven wade

meredith and manny took turns handing out lollipops and we made some sales and some new friends. overall i would say it was a success, despite the fact that chicago saw the most rain in its recorded history. buh.

monday, however, was the best day of the trip. meredith and steven showed us around their city that they love so much, and the city that we now love so much. we went to millennium park and took silly pictures in front of the bean (i will share some later, but manny shot them on film and they have not yet been processed). we wandered around the navy pier and rode the swings (um, chicago has swings and a ferris wheel and i want to live there), and saw the dark knight (for the second time! and it was even better!) on the imax screen and ate way too many jelly belly beans.

photo by manny d

i think i fell a whole lot in love with chicago and our excellent and fun and charming and pretty and handsome and knowledgeable hosts and i cannot wait to go back.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

i am smack in the middle of finishing up packing for chicago. i had so many grand plans and every intention of photographing and posting about the process of preparing. but, unfortunately there are only so many hours in each day and the days go by so quickly. does anyone else feel like you wake up (for me, around 7am) and then suddenly it is midnight? how does that happen?

i, of course, did not finish nearly as much as i wanted to. but i am only one person. and one person who is working her little body very hard these days. so i of course woke up with a sore throat, sore body and headache-y head the other day. i have been trying to think healthy thoughts and drink lots of water and emergen-c. i am very very excited about chicago.

i am also very pleased with myself because i had a plan, and i carried it through and the end result was exactly what the original idea in my head was! i am referring, of course, to the "bag trees" i invented. i am not sure that "bag trees" is the correct term, but i am also not sure what else to call them. basically, i needed something to hang bags onto that was not a clothing rack (because this is what i have used in the past and it is so awkward and i end up using all manner of added hooks and strings and what-nots and it usually looks just plain silly). i searched and searched online, but everything was either four hundred dollars or very very shiny chrome, which is not quite my style. so i purchased some pvc pipes (i know, they are very very terrible, and i have no excuse other than being in a time rush and not having a very mechanical mind) and some dowels and a few "toilet flanges" (sounds weird, but its really just what happened to fit the pipes to use as a base). i did not have a chance to photograph them before we packed them up, but i will snap a shot and post it when they are set up and also i will explain my process.

so i will post and post and tell you all about how much fun chicago is and how wonderful and fun our host is sure to be and how much of a huge success renegade is sure to be over the weekend.

so, if you are in chicago this saturday and/or sunday the 13th and 14th, please please please, go to the renegade craft fair and stop by the madebyhank booth to say hello!

and you may have noticed in my little sidebar over there a link to frolic. well, chelsea mentioned me on her blog yesterday!!! check it out here.

and last, but certainly not least, holly mentioned me in her take five tuesdays, where each week she mentions five etsy sellers that catch her eye. and the best part is, she put me right next to james ulmer, a fellow philadelphian and friend. james and i will be having a show together with kathryn moran near the end of november.

i am still in a bit of shock. but the best possible kind of shock. i am sooooooo excited that i kind of have to keep myself from squealing out loud. i think this calls for more ice cream for breakfast! and then straight back to the studio to do as much as my little hands will possibly allow me for as many hours as i can possibly stay awake to make as many things as possible in preparation for the renegade craft fair in chicago next weekend! if you are in chicago on saturday and/or sunday the 13th and 14th, please stop by the madebyhank booth!

thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you again everyone for your support being the sweetest sweet pies!

please forgive me, but i need to postpone the giveaway. i am so swamped with trying to keep up with etsy and also prepare for chicago (we leave in NINE way-to-short days). sometimes i think i am able to do way more than the hours in the day allow, and i often think i am a superhero when i so clearly am not. in the interest of maintaining my sanity and also allowing myself the time to make something super awesome, i will be announcing the giveaway item and the winner on september 20th, after i return from chicago and have a day or so to whip up something super sweet.

on the bright side, i f you have not yet had the chance to enter yourself in the giveaway, you now have more time to leave a comment on this post for your chance to win!